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Capacitor log Mundorf Silver in Oil

I wished I could find a log with information on caps. I have found many saying tremendous improvement etc. but not a detailed account of what the changes have been. I have had the same speakers for many years so am very familiar with them. (25+ years) The speakers are a set of Klipsch Lascala's. They have Alnico magnets in the mids and ceramic woofers and tweeters. The front end is Linn LP12 and Linn pre amp and amp. The speaker wire is 12 gauge and new wire.

I LOVE these speakers around 1 year ago they started to sound like garbage. As many have said they are VERY sensitive to the components before them. They are also showing what I think is the effect of worn out caps.

There are many out here on these boards I know of that are using the Klipsch (heritage) with cheaper Japanese electronics because the speakers are cheap! (for what they can do) One thing I would recommend is give these speakers the best quality musical sources you can afford. There is a LOT to get out of these speakers. My other speakers are Linn speakers at around 4k new with Linn tri-wire (I think about 1k for that) and the Klipsch DESTROY them in my mind. If you like "live feel" there is nothing like them. In fact it shocks me how little speakers have improved in 30 years (or 60 years in the Khorns instance)

In fact I question Linn's theory (that they have proved many times) that the source is the most important in the Hi-Fi chain. Linn's theory is top notch source with lessor rest of gear including speakers trumps expensive speakers with lessor source. I think is right if all things are equal but Klipsch heritage are NOT equal! They make a sound and feel that most either LOVE or hate. (I am in the LOVE camp and other speakers are boring to me)

So here goes and I hope this helps guys looking at caps in the future. Keep in mind Klipsch (heritage Khorns Belle's and Lascala's especially) are likely to show the effects of crossover changes more then most.

1 The caps are 30 years old and
2 the speakers being horn driven make changes 10x times more apparent.

Someone once told me find speakers and components you like THEN start to tweak if needed. Don't tweak something you not in love with. Makes sense to me.

So sound
Record is Let it Be (Beatles)
The voices are hard almost sounds like a worn out stylus.
Treble is very hard. I Me Mine has hard sounding guitars. Symbals sound awful. Everything has a digital vs. analog comparison x50! Paul's voice not as bad as John's and George's. Voices will crack.

different lp
Trumpets sound awful. Tambourine terrible. Bass is not great seems shy (compared to normal) but the bad caps draw soooooo much attention to the broken up mid range and hard highs that are not bright if anything it seems the highs are not working up to snuff. I have went many times to speaker to make sure tweeters are even working.

All in all they sound like crap except these Klipsch have such fantastic dynamics that even when not right they are exciting!

Makes me wonder about the people who do not like them if they are hearing worn out caps and cheap electronics? Then I can see why they do not like them! If I did not know better from 25+ years of ownership that would make sense.

For the new crossover I have chosen Mundorf Silver in Oil from what I have read and can afford. I want a warm not overly detailed sound as Klipsch already has lots of detail and does not need to be "livened up" they need lush smooth sounding caps. Hope I have made the right choice?

When the crossover is in I will do a initial impression on same lp's. Right now it goes from really bad (on what may be worn vinyl) to not as bad but NOT great on great vinyl. (I know the quality of the vinyl because tested on other speakers Linn)

The new caps are Mundorf Silver in Oil and new copper foil inductors are coming. I will at the same time be rewiring the speakers to 12 guage from the lamp cord that PWK put in. PWK was a master at getting very good sound often with crap by today's standards components.

The choice of speakers would be a toss up now depending on what I am listening to. Klipsch vastly more dynamic but if the breaking up of the sound becomes to much to effect enjoyment the Linn would be a better choice on that Lp. If I could I would switch a button back and forth between speakers depending on song and how bad the break-up sound was bothering me.

volleyguy
salectric
755 posts
 
Reminder: Duelund CAST caps are quite sensitive to how they are mounted. In my experience, if the cap is lying flat on a wood surface, there are annoying colorations: a thick, excessively warm bass, and dark high frequencies. I have tried several types of plywood and hardwood as well as aluminum, and none of them was satisfactory if the cap was lying flat on the surface. The best sounding mounting for me is to have 3 small plywood cubes under the cap to elevate it off the wood surface by 3/4" or so. Each cube is made from 3/4" Baltic Birch plywood. I have tried various cones and other spacers, but the BB cubes are still my favorite (so far).

I am only talking about the CAST pancake caps (100v speaker crossover types). I didn't experiment with different mounting of the 630v caps, and I no longer use them.

I mentioned all this in a post on this thread a year ago, but it is worth repeating. Besides I can't imagine any newcomers actually reading this entire thread.
jetrexpro
506 posts
 
Salectric, Thanks for the reminder. I know you are referring to the DUELUND pancakes but still Interesting since I have my 630v Duelund Cast mounted on its side on a very thin piece of ply wood using Blue tack and the physical solder joints to hold it in place. Wondering what they might sound like mounted upright.
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,510 posts
 
Ok you Agon modifiers.....I have a comment and question. I just finished modifying my preamp so the filament heaters are powered by battery. Yeah, 6 volt rechargeable gel cell battery. I simply charge it with a separate filament tranny and turn off the power to the filament filter when the battery is fully charged.

More quiet background and I like the result very much. A nice lift in SQ for sure.

Have you folks done this?

Mine is set up to run 100% battery and if and when the battery drains I can simply turn on the filament filter power supply.
dracule1
1,085 posts
 
Duelund recently released their copper/silver hybrid CAST cap. Anyone have used the caps for electronics? I've been a little wary about using their pure silver caps (besides the stratispheric price) due to a slight tonal thinning compared to pure copper mentioned by Jimmy Junkyard (personal communication). The hybrid cap may be best of both worlds.
volleyguy1's avatar
volleyguy1
343 posts
 
I have not used them and likely will not just due to price.

Would like to hear myself what some think.

Read U.K. Stereo magazine today HiFi choice?

Talking about how they thought for many years the source was the most important thing. (being Linn LP12 guys which I have an older loaded LP 12 as well) They have a pic of my speakers (co-incident) (Klipsch Lascala) and talk about how they do things modern speakers can not.

They think the issue stems back to the mono age when one big speaker was how you created life like image. When two channel stereo came out speakers became smaller and the importance of the source grew.

Now they are not so sure it was correct.

They likened the comparison to old film cameras that took very good quality pictures but did not have the quality of today's lenses but since they used a much larger film format it did not matter.

Meaning big speakers (horns in this case) do not need as precise a source to create life like sound.

I never thought I would hear this (main stream audio magazine) but maybe Steen's thoughts on the speakers being the most important part of the system is coming back? Now take the Lascala's they are listening too and mod them to the hilt like mine with all Duelund and there is NO comparison to stock and become quite refined! (and life like tone like crazy)
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